JULY 22, 2000/SEARS POINT RACEWAY-Boasting the largest field so far this season, 40 drivers took the green for the start of the second round of the Star Mazda Series Best Western Championship. Leading the charge from the pole was Valley Motor Center's Matt Beardsley, who held off early threats from teammate Jason LaPoint and World Speed's Scott Bradley to claim the victory.   

"I tried not to look back and just run my own race," said the 21-year-old Beardsley, whose spare time is spent preparing for try-outs for the U.S. Olympic downhill ski team. Beardsley actually qualified his Alpine Bank/Land Title racer outside pole, alongside World Speed's Grant Ryley, but post-qualifying impound revealed a technical infraction in Ryley's Cupertino Electric/Del Monaco Specialty Foods Formula Mazda and his time was disallowed. Flat-Out Racing's Aaron Ogus and HASA Pool Products driver Dave McMillan were also sent to the back of the qualifying order after impound with technical infractions. Scott Kusy, driving his Troon Golf/Team Bucknum-prepared car, elected to start at the back after a qualifying run spin flat-spotted his tires and the team put on new rubber.

The new qualifying order set up an interesting race, especially with the front-running Ryley-who was near or at the top of all the practice time sheets-charging from the tail end of the pack. When the green flew to start the scheduled 23-lap race, Beardsley immediately jumped into the lead. He was challenged in Turns One and Two by Bradley, who got a good run on LaPoint as they headed up the hill.  "I got a really good start into Turn One," said the 22-year-old Bradley. "I tried to take the line away from Jason in Turn Two so I could get away from him."

LaPoint, also 22, played it a little more conservatively. "I'm in a championship race, so there wasn't much sense in risking it all in Turn One," said the Thrasher Magazine and Trackmagic Karts-sponsored driver. "I was thinking about points and I wanted to finish."

Up front, Beardsley gradually took control with Bradley trailing a bit in second and LaPoint another couple seconds back in third. The best battle on track was for fourth between Bernardo Martinez and Michael Potekhen. Martinez, who is running under a joint effort with Kent Stacy and Team Bucknum, dueled all race long with Potekhen.  "We'd go side-by-side through Turn Two, then I'd have to go over the curb in Four to get back by and then we'd be side-by-side in Turn Six and Mike would slide wide," said Martinez, who instructs at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway-based Derek Daly Academy. "This went on lap after lap. We really had a great time out there and he was fun to race."

Potekhen impressed all with his win at Phoenix earlier this year and picked up Troon Golf sponsorship and a ride with Star Mountain Racing for the rest of the series. "That was clean, close racing," said the 20-year-old driver. "I didn't breathe the first half of the race."

By lap nine, Ryley was up to 14th and passing several cars as he approached the top 10. On lap 14, however, Eurosport Racing's Justin Pestotnik went wide in Turn 11 while maneuvering lapped traffic, clipping the outside wall. The course went to full-course yellow to remove Pestotnik's damaged race car. Three laps later, the race went back to green conditions with Beardsley again jumping into the lead.

Unfortunately, racing was short-lived when Troon Golf's Bryan Selby made contact with World Speed's Rick Waddell, sending Waddell airborne across the run-off at Turn Seven. Luckily, neither driver was hurt, but both were done for the day. Meanwhile, there was also trouble in Turn Two, along with errant bodywork in the middle of Turn One. With no opportunity to go green in the time remaining, race officials decided to throw the checker one lap early with Beardsley leading Bradley, LaPoint, Martinez and Potekhen across the line.

Rounding out the top 10 was Shames Construction/World Speed driver Chantz Wade in sixth; teammate Alex Figge in his ZeroWAIT/Bell Helmets/Seattime World Speed-prepared car in seventh and Ryley in eighth.  "I was upset after qualifying, but I decided I was gonna show these guys I deserved to be up there," Ryley said. "I really had a lot of fun and I think I could have been in the fight for the lead because I had a great car."

Al Boenker Insurance's Quad Boenker finished ninth from 12^th starting position with Chris McMurry in 10th. McMurry, by the way, sustained heavy damage to his Fairytale Brownies/Northern Trust Bank/Washburn Development/McMurry Publishing racer in the second practice session, but Team Bucknum got the car back together in time for qualifying and the race.

In the Best Western points championship, Martinez maintains a one-point lead over LaPoint, 78 to 77, respectively. Bradley moved into third with 72 points to Wade's 67. Rounding out the top five is Ryley with 62 points.

After eight rounds  Beardsley now leads the West Division points with 295 points to Selby's 294. Bradley is third in this championship as well with 271 points, with Ryley and McMurry rounding out the top five with 241 and 234 points, respectively.

The third round of the Star Mazda Series Best Western Championship will be held Aug. 6, at Mosport Int'l Speedway in conjunction with another American LeMans event. The next round of the West Division series is Sept. 9, at Portland Int'l Raceway.

Speedvision, featuring commentators Derek Daly and Johnny O'Connell, is televising the entire eight-race Best Western Championship with 30-minute shows that will be broadcast during prime time viewing-on the East and West Coasts. The Sears Point race will be shown on Aug. 7, at 8:30 p.m EDT, with a replay of the telecast on Aug. 8, at 12:30 a.m. EDT.

The upcoming Mosport event will be televised on Aug. 28, at 8 p.m. EDT, with replays slated for Aug. 29, 12 a.m. EDT and Sept. 1, 1:30 p.m. EDT.  Please check your local listings to confirm the dates and airtimes.

For more information about the Star Mazda Series Best Western Championship or West Division championship, please log on to the Star Mazda Series website at www.starmazda.com or contact series administrator Gary Rodrigues at (818) 909-5319. -Jane Anderson

JULY 22, 2000/SEARS POINT RACEWAY, Sonoma, Calif. (2.52-mile road course)
All drive Star Formula Mazdas powered by Mazda 13B rotary motor using Goodyear tires.

 QUALIFYING: 1. Matt Beardsley, 1:34.900; 2. Jason LaPoint, 1:34.902; 3. Scott Bradley, 1:35.266; 4. Bernardo Martinez, 1:35.556; 5. Mike Potekhen, 1:35.625; 6. Alex Figge, 1:35.754; 7. Chantz Wade, 1:35.760; 8. Scott Jenkins, 1:36.041; 9. Bryan Selby, 1:36.052; 10. David Sterenberg, 1:36.394; 11. Justin Pestotnik, 1:36.766; 12. Quad Boenker, 1:36.905; 13. Chris McMurry, 1:36.919; 14. Pierre Ehret, 1:36.949; 15. Bob Negron, 1:37.005; 16. Steve Lopez, 1:37.479; 17. Bryan Willman, 1:38.013; 18. Doug Peterson, 1:38.037; 19. Will Hill, 1:38.161; 20. John Pestotnik, 1:38.206; 21. Tom Sporney, 1:38.320; 22. Dick Downs, 1:38.418; 23. Chad Block, 1:38.700; 24. Brad Drew, 1:39.446; 25. Michael Choquette, 1:39.508; 26. Tom Mabey, 1:39.758; 27. Miguel Franco, 1:39.987; 28. Taylor Fletcher, 1:40.129; 29. Rick Waddell, 1:40.179; 30. Ethan Hernandez, 1:40.277; 31. Ginni Swanton, 1:40.540; 32. Steve Cook, 1:41.317; 33. Dan Weyland, 1:41.534; 34. Jim Billys, 1:42.676; 35. Norm Hernandez, 1:42.897; 36. Larry Couture; 37. Grant Ryley, no time; 38. Scott Kusy, no time; 39. Aaron Ogus, no time; 40. Dave McMillan, no time.

TIME OF RACE: 40m55.406s
RACE AVERAGE SPEED:  81.284mph 
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.507sec
LAP LEADERS:  Beardsley 1-22  
 FASTEST RACE LAP:  Beardsley, 1:35.991 (94.509mph)